Artificial Meets Reality

Colin Hutton

There was a time—not very long ago—when the very idea of advanced artificial intelligence was discussed only by futurists, speculators, and sci-fi writers. But today, due to swift developments in machine learning and data analysis, AI is on the cusp of surpassing science fiction and becoming science fact.

“But wait!” you say. “It’s not like I have a robot butler who makes me martinis and has a steak ready when I come home from work.” OK, fair point. While we don’t quite have mechanical servants making us cocktails and prepping our meals (yet), a surprising amount of innovative artificial intelligence is woven into the fabric of the technology we use on a daily basis.

A lot of it is easy to spot. Virtual digital assistants live in our phones and on our computers, even inhabit our portable speakers. We use voice commands to schedule events, look up recipes, and tell us how our fantasy sports team is fairing. Our home-streaming queues seem to grow smarter and better focused every day, making recommendations that can sometimes feel like they were plucked from the deepest desires of our psyches.

The devices and products we use daily are progressively getting smarter due to advances in what’s commonly called machine learning. The idea is basically this: If you take enormous computing power (say, home-streaming servers) and feed it tremendous amounts of data (say, from hundreds of millions of users), you end up getting an artificial intelligence network that can interact with people in the real world in a useful way. Of course, there are applications to this computing power other than helping you decide what rom-com to watch on a listless Tuesday night.

Many forward thinkers predict that by the year 2020 as many as 10 million self-driving cars could be on the road. By 2030, almost all cars will be self-driving. By 2040, driving a car manually might actually be illegal. The rate at which autonomous driving cars are advancing is staggering, and it’s all being driven by machine learning. Consider an electric automaker. The electric car maker records data—tremendous amounts of data—from the autopilot setting, present in almost every one of its vehicles. All of that data is then fed to into a network that, in turn, uses it to make steady improvements to the autopilot system. The more electric cars on the road, the more people using autopilot, the better the self-driving AI becomes, and the closer we get to a driverless world.

But it’s not all self-driving cars and smiles and sunshine. Experts see the possibility of artificial intelligence running amok as one of the greatest threats to humanity in the coming century. A founder of an electric automaker is one of the most vocal proponents of finding ways to curb and control AI should it spin out of control. Recently he was one of 8,000 scientists, engineers, and researchers who signed an open letter warning of AI’s possible danger, mainly focusing on the potential control of autonomous weapons. In 2015 he, among others, started a nonprofit that seeks to “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole.” To date this nonprofit has received over a billion dollars in funding and employs some of the best artificial intelligence experts in the world.

But what about those scenarios we can’t predict? What about consequences of AI that even our smartest scientists can’t possibly foresee? Remember the sci-fi writers? That’s where they come in. AMC’s Humans, which has its season premiere Monday, February 13, is a show that speculates where artificial intelligence could be headed. It envisions a world where a revolutionary piece of code allows synthetic life-forms to achieve consciousness. The hour-long drama delves into how the introduction of these artificial life-forms (known as synths) affects everything from science to culture to societal norms.

Advanced AI is coming, but how will we deal with it as a society? Probably the best way is to listen very carefully to scientists, engineers, and experts. But also to watch TV shows like Humans to get an accurate prediction of the cool, creepy, and wild world of artificial intelligence that is rapidly becoming reality.

Learn more about AMC’s Humans and tune in to the season two premiere on Monday, February 13, at 10/9c.